


Valentine's Dates

by raisedtokeepquiet



Category: Eurovision Song Contest RPF, Festival di Sanremo RPF
Genre: Basically, Fluff, M/M, Valentine's Day, and planning two dates on one day, it's just fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-04
Updated: 2018-08-04
Packaged: 2019-06-21 20:39:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15565974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raisedtokeepquiet/pseuds/raisedtokeepquiet
Summary: Ermal and Fabri have been together for a few months now, but now it's almost Valentine's Day. They agreed that Fabrizio would plan the afternoon and Ermal the evening, and they did. They of course want it to be perfect, so what have they come up with?





	Valentine's Dates

**Author's Note:**

  * For [WilliahMagala](https://archiveofourown.org/users/WilliahMagala/gifts).



> So I was asked to write something fluffy with as prompt Ermal and Fabri's first Valentine's Day. As apparently I can't write something short to fill a prompt, this is the monster that I ended up with. I hope you enjoy :)

Fabrizio and Ermal have been together for a few months now, and now Valentine’s Day is coming up. Their first Valentine’s Day together. They both want to make it really special and they spend their time together nicely and exchange some small presents. They decide that Fabrizio can plan the day, and Ermal can plan the evening. The only thing is, Giada also wants to spend a nice Valentine's Day with Agata, so they had to make some agreements on where the children would be. They agreed that Libero and Anita would spend the day with Giada and Agata, and then the evening and night with Fabrizio and Ermal. It's maybe not ideal, but it's the fairest solution they could think of, and really it's not so bad, because they all love the children so much anyway. It’s nice to spend part of Valentine’s Day together with them too.

So first, Fabrizio’s plans. He has to plan what to do during the day, and of course he wants it to be perfect. He thinks about it for a bit, or rather, a long time, and finally comes up with something perfect. He knows how Ermal loves the beach. Of course, they can’t go swimming or anything, as it's winter, but still, the beach and the sea are beautiful no matter what time of year. So he carefully starts planning and gets all the things he needs for that day. Now all he needs is a present. That takes some more time to figure out. Finally he thinks of something, just in time, because the big day is less than a week away now.

On February 14th, they both take the day off. Fabrizio has already packed the car, so all he needs to do is tell Ermal to go sit in the passenger seat and just wait to get where they’re going. (Ermal is not so convinced because with Fabri's driving... He really does not want to die. But he doesn't know where to go, so it's his only option if he wants to do anything nice together at all.)

They start driving and all the time Ermal is pestering Fabrizio with questions about where they're going and what they will be doing, and when they will arrive. Fabri ignores everything and just turns on the radio to shut Ermal up. Of course that doesn't work, because now Ermal is singing along to all the songs, and Fabri can't help but smile like an idiot and join him. (And no matter how much he is looking forward to this day he has planned, he might take a slight detour, just because the atmosphere in the car is so lovely and great.)

Finally, they make it to their destination, and Fabrizio parks the car and gets out to open the door for Ermal, like a true gentleman. Then he walks to the back of the car to open the trunk. Ermal follows him with a stupid smile and asks, 'We're going to the beach for our Valentine’s date?"

As an answer, Fabrizio just dumps a bag full of unknown things in Ermal’s arms. He takes two other bags himself, and starts walking towards the sand. They walk some distance away from the parking space, just to have some privacy. Not that it's busy, not at all, it's winter after all, and people rather want to spend time indoors with family instead of on a cold windswept beach.

Then at some point, Ermal decides he's had enough of walking and carrying the bag, so he just drops it (though carefully, he has no idea what's in it or whether it can break) and Fabrizio joins him.

"Can you please get some blankets out of there?" Fabri asks him and when Ermal opens the bag he just finds it stuffed with possibly all blankets they own. He puts one on the sand and then keeps the others to wrap around themselves. Meanwhile, Fabrizio has opened one of the other bag and takes out... wood?

Ermal finally understands when Fabri starts building a small fire pit and gets a campfire burning.

Ermal decides to just settle in his blankets and let Fabri take over. Fabrizio, being the good cook he is, gets some sausages to roast and a whole lot of other food as well, and Ermal sees this amazing meal take shape before his eyes. When the sausages are ready, Fabrizio also settles in the blankets, and the two of them eat and cuddle to stay warm, and the salty breeze from the sea, even if it is a bit cold – the warmth of the fire and the blankets and each other makes up for that.

After the dinner, they lie back and look at the clouds float by – it might be winter, but there is still a partly blue sky and the sun is out. They point out funny shaped clouds and it’s so nice and calm and relaxing. Then Fabri gets up and picks up a flask of hot chocolate from his magical bags, and some marshmallows to roast, and they have those for dessert, while just cuddling and softly kissing and talking about everything and nothing.

Ermal loves this day so much, he loves the beach, it's peaceful and quiet today. The beach is empty except for them and it feels like their own special world. Ermal just looks at this perfect man who has given him the perfect date, and he’s so in love he can actually _feel_ his eyes changing to the shape of hearts. Finally, Fabri notices that Ermal is staring and not listening and he stops talking, a question plainly visible on his face. Ermal wastes no time, or words, and pulls him in to kiss him, a kiss that communicates his happiness and his joy and his _love_ , so much love.

When they finally surface, in a search for oxygen, they decide to put out the fire and go for a short walk along the water, hand in hand.

Fabrizio just loves looking at Ermal, seeing how the wind plays with his curls, the pink on his cheeks from the cold air, the light in his eyes from being here with him and from being in nature, from being at the seaside. He doesn’t notice that he’s staring, but he is, and Ermal does. Ermal stops and stares back, and they stand like that for a minute. Then they just move closer and closer, so slowly, and start kissing again. It’s even better than before, it’s really the most perfect kiss they’ve shared, with the contrast of cold air and warm lips and a warm embrace and it’s _perfect_.

They make their way back to their pile of blankets and sit down again among them, and then Fabri looks up shyly, and says, “I also got you a little something.”

The present. They had agreed to not do any expensive gifts or big things, because really, they already had each other, and that was the biggest gift they could give each other. So they had decided to give something small, something personal.

Fabri rummages through one of his bags, finally finds what he is looking for, and hands it to Ermal. It's a thin square package and Ermal carefully unwraps it. Then he holds in his hands a cd, one of those self-made ones, that come empty and you can burn on your computer. The cover is clearly self-made as well, a strange collection of pictures and word art and it shows him and Fabri, the two of them alone, or together with Libero and Anita, just all small pictures half overlapping and on top of each other. The word art is one of those curved rainbow ones and just says 'Ermals's songs".

Ermal looks at Fabri, with a confused look, why would he give Ermal a cd of his own songs? He opens the cd with the hope to find some answers, but he just finds the disc with the same handwritten label, there's no track list or anything else to help.

Ermal is just so confused.

But then Fabri again gets out his bag and he hands Ermal a notebook, but says, "You can only read that later." and he also gets out a - discman?

Ermal stares at the device, how old is that thing? It has to be absolutely ancient, he can't believe that Fabri still has one, and one that works too – but then, it's Fabri, if anyone has ancient technology, its him.

Fabrizio takes the cd from Ermal and puts it in the discman. He then gives Ermal one of the earbuds and takes the other one himself, and then presses _play._

Ermal listens breathlessly, as he realizes that these are not his songs, but it is Fabri singing. The cd is a collection of all the songs that they've listened to together or that were playing when they were together. All are sung by Fabrizio, even all the English ones, and Ermal is so incredibly proud and touched and in love.

Together, cuddling and wrapped up in blankets, they listen to songs like Non Me Avete Fatto Niente, Don't Cry, Hallelujah, and a dozen others. With each one there are so many memories and Ermal loves his present, it is so thoughtful and sweet, and it must have taken so much time to put together. Then the final track is Let It Go from Frozen and Ermal has flashbacks to the uncountable number of times they’ve watched the film with Anita, and just breaks out laughing and starts hugging Fabri – he loves this man so much, okay?

(The next day, Ermal has finally time to read that notebook that Fabri gave him. The first page contained a track list of the cd. The rest of the pages was filled with descriptions of what each song meant to him, and what memories it brought to mind, and how the songs reminded him of Ermal and their time together. Ermal is so touched and his hearts swells with the love he feels for Fabrizio, he cannot believe Fabri had taken so much time just to make a silly present for him. He plays the cd again and again and again.)

Unfortunately, they don’t have too much time to dwell on the present and the songs, because when they check the time, they realize they really should go and pick up Anita and Libero. So they stuff all the blankets and other items back into the bags, and return to the car. They pick up Anita and Libero, Ermal driving this time, and make their way home.

With this, the evening part of the day officially begins, Ermal’s responsibility.

He spent so much time thinking about this, coming up with different ideas and discarding them. How was he ever going to plan the perfect night? He didn’t know, he was at a loss. It had to be sweet and romantic for Fabri, but also fun for Anita and Libero.

It was getting close to Valentine’s Day, and still, Ermal had no idea what to do. None. In a moment of despair, he called up his mother and asks her if she has any ideas for him, any at all. She doesn’t really, she gives a few suggestions, but they’re not the _perfect_ , magical things he needs, just general things like: “have a nice dinner”, “do something fun together with the kids!” – like his idea would be to serve shitty food and completely ignore the children, what was she thinking? This wasn’t supposed to be just a nice family night, this had to be the perfect night for him and Fabri, together with the children. That was different.

So he was just… At a loss, at a complete loss.

He decides to change tactics, maybe a better idea is to first focus on Fabrizio’s present, instead of his plans for the evening. But really, that’s no good either, it’s just been Christmas, he is out of ideas for presents. Why did Valentine’s Day have to be so close to all the holidays?

It’s now less than a week before Valentine’s Day, he’s stressing out.

Finally, he thinks of something. It might work. But it’s going to need some planning. And time. Time he really doesn’t have. And it involves some white lies to Fabri, and he feels bad about that, but at this point, what choice does he have left? He has to make it a perfect evening, and this is the best idea he managed to come up with.

So he tells Fabrizio that he has to go Milan for three days, to do some interviews, meet some people. Yes, so sorry, very last minute, couldn’t be scheduled any other way, you know how it is… – Each word that leaves his lips increases his guilt and he can feel it in his stomach. But Fabri accepts his story without questions and Ermal packs his overnight bag and leaves.

But not for Milan. What he really does, in those three days, is fly to Albania and visit his grandmother. Here he's going to find the present for Fabri, and here he's going to find inspiration for that evening he has to plan. His grandmother is of course delighted that he's visiting and she loves the reason so much – just mentioning “family night with Fabrizio and the children” does the trick. She has some great ideas, and Ermal knows that without her this would never have worked. Now he is confident the evening will be a success.

Meanwhile, Ermal loves his time in Albania, it's a nice short holiday after the stress he's been having trying to come up with something. Now everything will work out, and he relaxes in his grandmother's presence, talking Albanian, eating Albanian food. The three days pass way too quickly, but he really has to go back home and prepare the evening. He flies back to Rome again, with a lot more baggage than he had before.

Back home, it's a challenge to get everything ready without letting Fabri know, but he manages. What helps is that Fabri is also suspiciously busy and Ermal doesn’t see him much during the day.

Finally everything is ready, and now the day, or rather, evening has arrived.

It's still quite early, so they let Libero and Anita go play for a bit and just do as they want, while Ermal and Fabri take turns quickly showering and to have chance to change into clothes with less sand and salt in them.

While Fabri is still showering, Ermal is setting the table, putting candles and the nice glasses. Then he sneaks out the neighbours to collect the things he had left there. Because the first part of his plan was a nice dinner – just as his mom had said – but not just any dinner, no. An Albanian dinner. His grandmother had given him some easy recipes that even he could not mess up, and that could be prepared ahead of time. He'd asked the neighbours for a little of their fridge space so it would stay a secret for Fabri. So now he is reheating the Albanian food he had cooked himself, and the smells, it smells just like home and Ermal feels so proud of himself.

When the food is ready, he calls the others to dinner and Fabri walks into the room, surprised and impressed. He’s wondered what the evening would bring, but an elaborate Albanian meal cooked by Ermal definitely hasn’t crossed his mind. It smells amazing, though, and he looks forward to tasting all the different dishes. Fabrizio, Libero, and Anita sit down and Ermal puts some food on everyone's plate, hoping they will all like it. And of course they all do, Libero asking what the different dishes are and pronouncing all the Albanian names perfectly.

During dinner, Fabrizio doesn’t say much, besides how much he loves the food, but the looks he gives Ermal speak like books. There is pride in those looks, and admiration, and joy, and happiness and _love_ , and those looks make Ermal feel so safe and loved and happy.

Dinner is concluded with an Albanian dessert, which everyone also loves, and Anita starts begging him to make it more often. When Libero joins in, Ermal agrees, happy that the children love this dessert, just like he and his siblings loved it when they were young – well, he still loves it, it’s a great recipe. Ermal decides that the first thing he will do tomorrow is cal his grandmother and thank her for all her help and recipes and tips, because even though the evening is only halfway over, he knows it is a success. And all thanks to her, she deserves to know how it went.

After they've cleared the table, they made their way to the living room couch, and sat all piled on top of each other, to watch a movie that Ermal remembered watching when he was small. Really, his grandmother's memory was a blessing, as was the second hand shop where he managed to buy a copy of the dvd that even had Italian voices.

"I love it, it's a perfect night!", Fabrizio tells Ermal, who smiles and answers, "Well, it isn't over yet, after this I've got some board games planned!"

And that's exactly what they do after the movie has finished, they go back to the dinner table, and Ermal gets out some snacks and lemonade and some unfamiliar boxes and games with names none of the others can pronounce.

"What's this, babë?"Anita asks, as she looks in wonder at those boxes.

"They're games I used to play when I was little. Don't you think that will be fun? I'll explain all the rules to you, it's easy."

And so they start, playing Albanian board games, with each one Ermal is explaining the rules and telling them stories from his childhood, when he would play these games with his siblings or with friends. At first Ermal is winning, but then Libero starts winning as he figures out the rules and what strategies to use. Anita doesn’t win, but she’s having too much fun to even mind. And Fabrizio also doesn’t win – at the games, that is, because really, he is winning nonstop as long as he has Ermal.

After playing games for a long while, finally the children are too tired to keep their eyes open, and Ermal puts them to bed, telling them Albanian fairy tales to finish their Albanian evening. When both Anita and Libero are asleep, he joins Fabrizio again in the living room and cuddles up to him.

"Thank you so much for this evening, I really enjoyed it a lot, especially you telling all those stories of when you were young. It was so nice to listen to."

"I know you always wanted to know more about my childhood, but I find it difficult to talk about, sometimes... I just thought if I planned the whole evening like this, with all the good Albanian things I remember from my childhood, it would be a nice way to share with you."

"It really was. I enjoyed it so much, and I know Libero and Anita did too. Really, thank you, it means a lot that you wanted to share all this with us."

"Would you like your present now?"

"Yes please," Fabri answers, sitting up, because yes, he loves cuddling, but he’s looking forward to this present, he is so curious what Ermal has come up with.

So Ermal untangles himself from Fabri and gets his gift for Fabri. He walks back into the room with a big lumpy thing in his hands, wrapped in gift paper.

"I thought we had agreed on something small?" Fabri chuckes, as he sees the unidentifiable shape.

"It's really not that much, I couldn't think of anything and I ran out of time so yeah..." Ermal explains quickly and hands Fabri his present, and adds, "Be careful unpacking, it can tear." He sits back down next to Fabri, waiting a bit nervously until Fabri has unwrapped it.

Fabrizio looks at the lumpy thing on his lap. The bottom part is quite heavy, but the top is just... weirdly shaped and light and moveable? He really has no clue what this can be, and is getting even more curious. So he carefully unwraps the paper and is left with...

A plant. Ermal had given him a plant?

It’s quite a big one though, some sort of succulent maybe, with a lot of different branches gently curving up and outwards from the middle, sloping down again. Fabrizio is a bit confused, but takes a closer look. Then he notices that each branch has a tiny card tied to it, with something written on it. He turns them so that he can read them. They are all compliments to him, or short memories of time spent with Ermal, or wishes for their future.

After he has read all of them, Fabrizio looks up at Ermal with a soft smile. He just means to say how much he loves this, but when he sees how nervous Ermal is, he gently puts the plant on the table and just hugs him first.

“Thank you, Ermal, I really love this. It’s so sweet and thoughtful, and it will just keep growing, like we together will, too.” He can’t help but blush at this short speech, and he sees Ermal blinking at him, and he feels Ermal’s hand caressing his face, and settle in his hair to pull him in for a kiss.

“I’m happy you like it, I really wasn’t sure at all anymore. You know, my grandmother has a lot of these plants, they always remind me of all the time and all the holidays I have spent with her, especially Christmas, because actually, this plant has flowers around Christmas, it’s amazing. She then just has the whole window sill and the table full of plants like this one – actually, this is hers too. I should probably tell you now that I have a confession to make.”

Fabrizio just looks at Ermal, the question clear in his expression.

“I wasn’t – I wasn’t in Milan last week. I was actually visiting my grandmother, because she was the only one who could help me with this vague idea I had of making this night Albanian themed. Fabri, please don’t be mad at me for lying to you.”

“Amore, of course I’m not mad – to be honest, I suspected it a bit, when you magically conjured up all those dishes and games, and I never heard you talk about going to Milan before you said you had to go. Of course I’m not mad about this, you lied to me to keep this a surprise, it was all with good intentions. It’s like telling Anita the tooth fairy and Santa exist.”

Ermal is reassured by Fabri’s words, but can’t help remark, “I’m pretty sure Anita is going to be mad at us when she finds out.”

“That’s a problem for future us,” Fabrizio just says, and adds, “So, it’s your grandmother’s plant? You took this with you from Albania?”

“Yes, I took it with me. People at the airport were giving me some weird looks when they saw me walking around with that! But yes, I got it from my grandmother. I had actually planned to just take a tiny piece, but she wouldn’t let me – wait!”

With that, Ermal suddenly gets up and Fabri feels confused and a bit lonely, just for a minute, because then Ermal is back, carrying two small pots and shows them to Fabrizio, each containing a tiny version of the big plant.

“I wanted to take a cutting like this for you, so we could watch it grow together, but well, grandmother wouldn’t let me. But still, I wanted to make something for Anita and Libero, so they can each have a cutting, I’ll give them to them tomorrow, and then we can watch the plants grow together, just like they will grow.”

Now Fabri is pretty much crying, how does he deserve this man that just accepted the children and treated them like his own? He pulls Ermal towards him, somehow has enough wits left to put the two small pots next to the big one on the table, and then pulls Ermal in for a kiss. And another, and another, until finally they are just caressing each other’s faces, cuddling, and leaving pecks here and there.

“Ermal, thank you so much for this evening, I loved it so much, I love you so much. It was really perfect, this whole evening was perfect.”

“No,” Ermal answers, kissing Fabri’s nose, “This whole day was perfect, I loved it on the beach, thank you for planning it. And Bizio, I love you more.”

**Author's Note:**

> Edit: I wrote a Director's Commentary, which can be found here: http://raisedtokeepquiet.tumblr.com/post/181526968873/the-directors-thing-for-the-valentines-story


End file.
